Responsive- Illustration 12" Krzysztof Komeda development

INTENT:

- My main thoughts on Cul-De-Sac was the contrast of the instruments and how they seem to fight each other

- I used to hate jazz music, but after seeing La La Land, I started to understand what jazz was about, and how visual it is, as it was described as a collaborative fight between the musicians, with each taking control at different times, so I wanted to portray this in a visual way

- Although I'm still not a huge jazz fan, I have enjoyed creating something which communicates a feel and emotion through simple motifs

HOW:

- I started by roughing out my ideas and focusing on a simple, upbeat yet slightly vintage colour scheme

- Then I used cut out paper and gouache to make simple shape illustrations, but I found controlling the gouache really difficult, so tried painting an area with gouache before cutting out the shape to ensure it was precise

- However, I didn't like that outcome, and was really down with what I had made, before I saw the cut out negative spaces of the gouache, and thought about how I could use them instead

- I therefore scanned in the cut aways and cleaned them up on photoshop for a more abstract, intuitive outcome

Initial sketches

Attempt at painting with gouache

Second attempt at using gouache

First off cuts layout

Second of cuts layout

WHY:
- Although this isn't how I imagined this idea going, I decided to use the offcuts as they offered a more interesting, resolved visual outcome

- I also feel the black ties the instruments together more and ensures they still work together as a 'band' yet are different enough to show how I view the jazz sound

REFLECTIONS:

- I need to change the outside of the trumpet, it doesn't fit with the others

- Could I play with scale a bit more?

- I think going with my gut instinct can be very beneficial, especially as an alternative to trying to make something work when I think it's going to be unsuccessful